The poignant Hajj of a Christchurch survivor, in memory of his martyred wife
It was with a heavy heart, struggling to repress his tears, that Farid Ahmed, one of the survivors of the Christchurch massacre, arrived in the Holy Land last year, without his late wife by his side.
With sixty other of his co-religionists, all survivors of the horror, he had the good fortune to be invited by the Saudi kingdom to come and perform the Great Pilgrimage to Mecca. A marvelous piece of news that moved, beyond words, this inconsolable widower, whose pious and devoted wife died as a martyr four years ago.
Husna Ahmed, 45, is unfortunately one of the 51 Muslim victims of the Islamophobic barbarity which, on Friday March 15, 2019, struck New Zealand in the heart. A terrible tragedy that bloodied two sacred Muslim enclosures, the Al Noor and Linwood mosques, and plunged the entire New Zealand nation into mourning.
She was killed coldly by the far-right terrorist, Brenton Harrison Tarrant, when she had run, from the first shots, to her paralyzed husband to help him.
Assailed with indescribable emotions when he got off the plane, feeling more lonely than ever, Farid Ahmed appeared very distressed. Sitting on his wheelchair, looking sad, he could not contain his grief at the mention of his other half and a Hajj he was going to perform alone, without his companion at all times with him to live together. , with fervor, this unique moment. This fifth pillar of Islam and great journey of a lifetime, which they both so strongly aspired to.
” My wife has several times expressed the wish to go to Mecca for the Hajj, it was her dearest dream and mine too. But my disability has always been an obstacle. I am therefore happy and very moved to be able to realize his dream. This trip is not for me, it is for her, in her memory “said Farid Ahmed, his voice choked with emotion.
” I feel like wearing it. Every moment of this trip will remind me of his presence, it’s very painful. But I will try to represent her as worthily as possible, and beyond that, I would like to represent everyone, not in terms of faith because we have a different faith, but in terms of peace and love. , he added.
After being one of the few miracle survivors in Christchurch to have found the strength to forgive the monster of Australian cruelty for his unforgivable crime, Farid Ahmed drew on his faith in God the resources to overcome his immeasurable pain. He hoped that the highly spiritual experience of Hajj, imbued with devotion, would help him to begin his long and difficult work of mourning.
